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The Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety has awarded a $2,400 highway safety grant to Evans High School to enhance its chapter of Students Against Destructive Decisions.

The grant, according to a news release, is “part of an ongoing program to involve students in efforts to reduce injury and death to young drivers.” The release also said student organizations such as SADD can help reduce the problem of teen highway fatalities.

Columbia County commissioners will start off the new year with a meeting bumped a day back because of the holiday.

The Board of Commissioners will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 2, at the Evans Government Center auditorium on Ronald Reagan Drive. Commissioners ordinarily meet on the first and third Tuesdays of the month, but moved the meeting this week to Wednesday to accommodate New Year’s Day.

With Christmas over, many homes are starting to put away holiday decorations, including the Christmas tree.

People unsure of what to do with their live Christmas tree are encouraged to recycle it with the county’s annual Bring One for the Chipper program.

This year’s program will be held from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 5, at the Home Depot on Belair Road in Evans. Early dropoff is under way at Home Depot and the Columbia County Recycling Center’s William Few Parkway facility.

The Christmas trees are coming down. Decorations and artificial trees can be stored until next year, but live trees should be disposed of properly. There are a number of ways Christmas trees can to be useful after the holiday season.

A Grovetown man punched a Co­lum­bia County sheriff’s deputy in the Evans Walmart parking lot and crashed into another officer’s vehicle while fleeing the store on Dec. 23, authorities said.

Javantroi Perez Walden, 34, who has been charged with groping at least four women since July at Walmart stores and a Sonic restaurant, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and other charges.

Two Columbia County Food Lion grocery stores that closed nearly a year ago might not stay vacant much longer.

County Development Services Director Richard Harmon confirmed his department has reviewed plans to bring a Big Lots to the Home Depot shopping center on North Belair and Washington Road and a Walmart Neighborhood Market to The Village at Furys Ferry.